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Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms
Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms | Hannah Fry
8 posts | 14 read | 9 to read
Shortlisted for the 2018 Royal Society Investment Science Book Prize A look inside the algorithms that are shaping our lives and the dilemmas they bring with them. If you were accused of a crime, who would you rather decide your sentencea mathematically consistent algorithm incapable of empathy or a compassionate human judge prone to bias and error? What if you want to buy a driverless car and must choose between one programmed to save as many lives as possible and another that prioritizes the lives of its own passengers? And would you agree to share your familys full medical history if you were told that it would help researchers find a cure for cancer? These are just some of the dilemmas that we are beginning to face as we approach the age of the algorithm, when it feels as if the machines reign supreme. Already, these lines of code are telling us what to watch, where to go, whom to date, and even whom to send to jail. But as we rely on algorithms to automate big, important decisionsin crime, justice, healthcare, transportation, and moneythey raise questions about what we want our world to look like. What matters most: Helping doctors with diagnosis or preserving privacy? Protecting victims of crime or preventing innocent people being falsely accused? Hello World takes us on a tour through the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us on a daily basis. Mathematician Hannah Fry reveals their inner workings, showing us how algorithms are written and implemented, and demonstrates the ways in which human bias can literally be written into the code. By weaving in relatable, real world stories with accessible explanations of the underlying mathematics that power algorithms, Hello World helps us to determine their power, expose their limitations, and examine whether they really are improvement on the human systems they replace.
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BekaReid
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Interesting reading. Algorithms impact all of our lives, touching everything from our health care to Google searches to how our communities are policed. We have to understand them and be able objectively evaluate their unique costs and benefits. Otherwise we cannot make informed decisions about policies and regulations, and what technology we want to allow into our lives, our homes, and even our bodies.

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Verity
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Picking this up again after a long break...

16 likes2 stack adds
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paulareadsallthetime
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Interesting but scary book

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mimsickle
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A fascinating look at the age of technology and how ai is playing a role in the human world

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Weaponxgirl
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Kindle daily deal alert for the uk. Only 99p! This won a science award and looks super interesting

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ssravp
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Loved this. Algorithms are incredibly useful, but at the same time, incredibly scary.

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shutupsmalls

Here‘s Jack Stilgoe‘s take on the necessary compromise [of driverless cars]: “Things that look like autonomous systems are actually systems in which the world is constrained to make them look autonomous.”

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Verity
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This came out here yesterday, I have an Arc but have only just started it because Him Indoors snatched it off me and read it first. He really liked it, but was also terrified by it.

Lreads Sounds like this book poses some tough choices! 6y
Verity @QuietlyLaura yup. The section about autonomous cars and whether they should be programmed to save passengers or pedestrians... 6y
24 likes2 comments